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Thanksgiving Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:52:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and while I imagine that you are all so distracted by the redesign of the website and the glorious new logo, we still must focus on the holiday at hand. To do so I recommend a few things;
1. read the Thanksgiving wines article from the NY Times
2. stop by Vine before Thanksgiving, pick out your case of wine and have us deliver it the weekend before
3. write down the all important "I waited until the last possible minute to go shopping" hours
Wednesday November 26th 10am - 11pm
Thanksgiving Day 10am - 4pm

Did you get that? If not this might help sear it into your brain;

Wednesday November 26th 10am - 11pm
Thanksgiving Day 10am - 4pm

My final piece of advice is to read Gourmet Magazine for some fantastic turkey tips, oh and do yourself a favor and buy a "real" turkey here or here.

Relax and enjoy this fantastic food and wine holiday.

November 2008 Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:30:00 +0000

CLICK HERE to read the November 2008 Vine Wine Newsletter for details(.pdf)

*Vine Wine now delivers!

*Recipe: Hungarian Gewurztraminer and French Lentils with Puff Pastry

*Varietal of the Month: Gamay

*Thanksgiving Wines

*November Tastings

You vote, I vote, we all vote.

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:19:00 +0000

Everyday we all vote in some small way. Where we buy our coffee, where we eat lunch, whether we match our shoes to our belt (this may not be the most important way to use our "vote" but still). We all in some way make choices that we believe in. See, it is easy to vote. So now is the time to really think about voting, and while I would love to tell you that the only ballot issue is whether wine in a box can be as delicious as wine that comes out of a glass bottle, the issues at hand are more important. Obviously.

Without belaboring the point and being yet another noisy voice about voting, and your rights, and your responsibilities etc.. etc... I would like to arm you with a tool that may help you to vote, a website where you can check to see if you are registered. So go there, make sure you are registered, and then remember that we will be doing an all day tasting at Vine on Election day. So after you do vote, stop by and taste some wine and we can talk about civic duty, or better yet the age old debate between French and Italian wine.

Wines From Our Backyard

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:11:00 +0000

It isn't just home team pride that makes me gush about New York state wines whenever we have some in the store. This state's premium wine producers do a good job of bringing unique qualities out of some time-tested varietals. Bordeaux varietals — Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot — do especially well here and Long Island in particular has some similarities to Bordeaux in style and climate. The three bodies of water in and around Long Island help keep temperatures moderate and consistent and extend the growing season (when they aren't wreaking havoc). The nice difference about Long Island wines is that there are many single varietal wines which allow you to really get into the individual character of these grapes.
This week we received three wines from W�lffer, which is located on the South Fork of Long Island. We just sold the last of the 2005 Chardonnay half bottles (technically 'we' sold it to me, yum!) and just got in the 2006 Chardonnay half bottles as well as the 2006 Merlot half bottles and full bottles of the 2004 Merlot.

The Chardonnay is unoaked, crisp and has just the right amount of fruit to keep everything in balance. This would be a great bottle to take to Lamb & Jaffy and enjoy with their scallops in the back garden.

The 2006 Merlot is a great half bottle to have with a grilled steak salad or a cheeseburger from Caf� Henri. The fruit notes are bold in this one, with cherry and blackberry showing predominantly.

The 2004 Merlot has had a chance to integrate the aromas and textures together more than the 2006. The cherry notes are still very present, but now some wonderful cocoa and dark chocolate notes join in and make for a very pleasing combination. Definitely a great choice for many fall foods.

W�lffer Chardonnay 2006 | 375ml | $8.50
W�lffer Merlot 2006 | 375ml | $7.95
W�lffer Merlot 2004 | 740ml | $14.95

Cooper Hill Pinot Noir

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:23:00 +0000

It isn't often that you see a good Pinot Noir for $16.95 anymore. And it's equally as rare to find just about anything from the Willamette Valley in Oregon under $20. But somehow the people at Cooper Mountain Vineyards have figured out a way to make an affordable Willamette Pinot that's also certified biodynamic, organic and sustainable and, oh yeah, tastes really good. The Cooper Hill is a beautiful ruby in the glass and has cherry and light strawberry aromas. On the tongue it's got a touch of spice and a nice tartness that keeps it refreshing and exciting. This a great wine year round, but it really shines with fall foods.

Cooper Hill Pinot Noir | Willamette Valley, Oregon | Certified Biodynamic, Organic | $16.95

New Members of the Vine Family

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:06:00 +0000

We got in some exciting new wines this week. All of them are reasonably priced and dee-lish-us. Check 'em out.

Potel-Aviron | Moulin � Vent 2004 | $12.95

This wine comes from what many consider the best sub-region of Beaujolais, Moulin � Vent (check out Eric Asimov's article on the region). The wines from Moulin � Vent typically age very well and are more full-bodied than many of their counterparts, so we are excited to bring in this one from 2004. The color is ruby and the nose is full of stewed strawberry notes, which act as enticing sensory invitations. Once it gets to your palate, this wine is wonderfully, powerfully fruity but not sweet (thanks to the winemaking style in Beaujolais), balanced with a nice earthiness and a lingering, evolving finish. Chill it for a while and drink it on a hot day or serve it with roast turkey, either way it will rock you!

Quinta da Romeira | Arinto | $12.50

There are lots of reasons to love this Portuguese white wine. Dangerously refreshing, you may think about quenching your thirst with this wine rather than with water. But don't do it! This wine deserves attention and at least one sniff of its lovely tropical aromas before every sip. At that point, you'll be ready for the citrus notes and lighter pineapple notes that provide tongue happiness whether you drink this right out of the ice bucket or if you let it warm up a bit. This wine makes me want a pool and a grill topped with shrimp and veggie kebabs.

Vale da Torre | Aragones/Trincadeira | $8.95

A rich and complex red from a great, though less known, region of Portugal. The richness comes from the great grapes they use to make this wine. Aragones is another name for Tempranillo — the star of Rioja — and lends a dark smoky and spicy character to the wine. Trincadeira is a grape often used for making port in the Douro region and helps make the wine a bit brighter. Grilled meats will love love love this wine, and who are you to dispute grilled meats' opinions?

If Kurt Andersen Holds More Sway Than Us...

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Don't believe what we've been telling you about box wine?

Check out this short clip from NPR's Studio360:
studio080108d.mp3

What You Missed Last Night

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:14:00 +0000

For almost as long as Vine Wine has been open, we have carried the Oremus Mandol�s ($24.95) from Hungary, a beautiful white wine made from the grape Furmint with peach and vanilla notes, a bit of spice and an intricate texture. Although it was one of only two Hungarian wines in the store (the other being the out-of-this-world Oremus Tokaji Asz� dessert wine), it wasn't just a novelty wine, it was a good wine at a good price. Now, not only is the Oremus back, but we have three other new Hungarian wines that are tasty, elegant and soooo much more than a novelty . At last night's tasting, Sabina from Skurnik wines led us through these wines and here are some notes on them for all you slackers.

Pannonhalmi Ap�ts�gi Ros� | $13.95
A beautiful ros� made from Merlot and Pinot Noir. Yes, you read that right... not all wines from Hungary have strange names with accents all over the place to scare you. The ruby and orange color is enchanting and the nose is all strawberry and a touch of spice and vegetation. Wonderfully light and enough acidity to keep it live and active on your tongue. Definitely suited for summer nights with grilled shrimp and a sunset. But who cares what I say? At last night's tasting, 20 of the 24 bottles we received were sold.

Pannonhalmi Ap�ts�gi Tramini | $13.95
A wine that gives a rather true expression of Gewurztraminer that's dry, restrained but still very flavorful. The aromas are still plentiful and rich enough to make you want to hang your nose on the edge of the glass for a good half hour. Once you get to the first sip, the spice greets you on a wave of the slightly viscous texture. The best part, as Meguire pointed out, is how clean and actually refreshing it is. This is no heavy, sweet, coat your throat Gewurztraminer. This bottle begs you on its knees and everything to try it with Indian food. And guess what? It's grown organically ? as is the ros� ? for the Earth's pleasure. These folks have been making wine since 996. No I didn't forget a digit... the year nine hundred and ninety six, folks.

Saint Ilona Trad�ci� | $19.95
Ok, so this is one of those wines made from crazy indigenous grapes whose names sound like insults or have accents all over them: H�rslevel�, Furmint and Juhfark. All you need to know is that this is an extremely elegant wine that has a lengthy finish and pairs so so so well with nice summer salads (a goat cheese and roasted beet salad floats in front of my eyes whenever I think about this wine). In the glass, Trad�ci� is golden blond and the flavors include green apple, pear, spice, vanilla and a tasty minerally quality. Not to ride the wine-is-the-fountain-of-youth-and-saver-of-lives bandwagon, but, from the website of Otto?s European and Hungarian Import Store & Deli:

Historically, drinking Juhfark's (Sheep's Tail) on the night on a honeymoon would ensure the conception of a strong and capable male heir for the new couple's family.

So drink with care or whatever.

Let Your Tongue Work For You!

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I know summer is when people usually take it easy, but even so it's important to exercise your tongue. Otherwise it'll get all flabby for necking season. I'm doing my part to help all of you by making this week's tasting the second of our Guess the Grape challenges. Come by and see if all this drinking you've been doing has educated you or if you need to up your regimen.

You may remember a few months back that our first challenge was based around the syrah grape. We sampled an Italian syrah, a Californian syrah, an Australian shiraz and... some other one that I can't remember. We had lots of fun guessing, and a lot of people learned about syrah's characteristics and styles. This week we're giving you even more incentive to bring your A game. You could actually win something if you're on point.

This time, if you guess the correct grape on the first try, we'll give you a $20 punch on your punch card. Guess correctly on the second try & we'll give you a $15 punch. Third prize is you're fired! No, no, no... of course you don't lose anything if it takes more than two tries... the tasting will be a quiet, pressure-free environment. Really though, how cool would it be to get free credits on your punch card without having to do all the hard work of actually drinking a bottle of $20 wine?

Seriously. If you enjoy wine and want to know more about what you're drinking without reading some weirdo's book or some loud weirdo's video blog, this is the best way to do it. Tasting and analyzing a wine before you know anything about its price, style or winemaking methods is truly the fastest route to getting knowledgeable.

Why exercise at a yoga studio when you could exercise at a wine store?

Wednesday, July 16th, 5:30p-8:30p

Wine Picks

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:26:00 +0000

It's good to make reasonable goals or, failing that, to make unreasonable goals and be ready to adjust them often. That's all a way of saying that no, that big box of rosé I was planning to have for summer never made it to the summer solstice. But! When I adjusted my goal, hoping only to make the rosé last until June, I achieved my goal and now I feel like a winner. However... I am a winner with no house wine now. So here are three wines that have filled the hole in my heart and my refrigerator.

Skouras White Peloponnese, Greece 750ml $10.95
This wine is the Mediterranean in a bottle (without the smarmy guys and all the tourists). It's has really nice fruit upfront and, especially on the nose, I get lots of peach and some white flower notes. I really love it when this wine gets on my palate, though. That's when the wonderful, creamy texture shows up, along with some nice, light spice. It's great to have a wine that's full of character but really easy going a the same time.

Chateau Benoit Müller Thurgau Oregon, USA 750ml $12.95
Müller Thurgau is one of my favorite grapes. It has a lot of its own character but also responds well to the wine-making techniques of different regions. In northern Italy, wines made from Müller Thurgau tend to be crisp and clean and wonderfully minerally. In Oregon, they are often made with a little (or too often, a lot of) sweetness. Elegant floral notes combine with some tropical notes and that touch of sweetness for a graceful, balanced wine. (Read more about Müller Thurgau at Craig Camp's blog)

Magdala Rosé Provence, France 3000ml $28.95
This is almost too easy a replacement. Sure it looks like wine that you'd get from a pharmacy, but that should only make you confident that these winemakers put more money into their wine than into their packaging. This little better-for-the-Earth box has four bottle's worth of light, very easy to drink and very tasty rosé inside. It's perfect for a weekend with friends or, for that matter, a weekend alone. I'm thinking doctors should start prescribing this rather than pills. (Kidding! Sort of.)

Cool Stuff from the Cybervine

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:32:00 +0000

One of the nice things about wine besides, you know, tasting good and getting you drunk, is that it inspires a lot of wine accessories. Here's some cool stuff I've found lately, in case that government rebate check is burning a hole in your pocket or if, like me, you need gifts for all 250 of your friends that are getting married this summer.

Straight from Bordeaux comes the craziest decanter I've ever seen. I love that it looks sort of biological and that the artist's blog is called the-strange-decanter. Feel free to pick one of these up for me, they're only 5000 euros plus shipping... I'll buy the wine!

If you aren't feeling badass enough when opening your rosé, try these brass knuckle corkscrews from vest collective. They'll turn any sissy wine into a badass wine immediately and if your guests happen to have some unpaid debts to you, the corkscrew basically pays for itself.

Finally, in case you really are feeling badass enough and want to tone it down a little, here's the perfect accessory for you. Walk into a party, pour yourself a glass, put this on and no one will have any doubts about your character.

Going for the "green"

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Lately I have felt inundated with information about the environment; my carbon footprint, being green, salmonella laden tomatoes etc....Sometimes it all gets to be too much, and when you find yourself searching for the recycling number on the side of all of a plastic bottle you know there must be an easier way to do this. So it was with great joy that I read this and I was reminded that occasionally our instincts are correct. Which got me thinking, if drinking wine from France is already a good idea then drinking it out of a box from France must be an even better idea. After all you can pack more square items in than round items, boxes are lighter, take less fuel to produce, and contain more wine. So what this means is that if I want to be truly "green" I should drink all of my wine from cute little cardboard boxes.

Diversifying My Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:49:00 +0000

At the beginning of May, I brought home my 10 liter box of Domaine Roger Perrin rosé and introduced it to its new home on the top shelf of my refrigerator. Then I had a housewarming party for it and drank two bottle's worth of it. It's kind of a rite of summer to have more than a case's worth of Rhone rosé available, crisp and cold, ready for drinking anytime. So when two weeks had passed and I was having to tilt the box to fill my wine glass, I got a little concerned. What if the ultimate summer treat never even made it to summer, much less June? I don't know if it'll still be around another three weeks, but I've tried to diversify my drinking a little more as part of my Rosé Conservation Program.

When my girlfriend and I got back from a long bike ride and needed a wine to drink on the fire escape, rather than dipping into the rosé reserve, I cracked open a bottle of Muralhas de Monção Vinho Verde. Vinho verde is another one of those wines that go so well with spring and summer because it is light and crisp and usually slightly sparkling (and cheap!). Much of the vinho verde from the Monção subregion, where this one is from, has a higher amount of alvarinho in the mix, is typically a little higher in alcohol and has more body. (I've talked about my love of alvarinho (known in Spain as albariño) before. But because prices for European wines have been jumping higher, it has been hard to find a reasonably-priced bottle to carry in the store for some time.) I had heard reports that other people had really enjoyed this wine, but my palate had been concerned exclusively with rosé for weeks and I wondered if I'd be interested in anything else.

I stuck my allergy-addled nose into the glass and instantly picked out those great alvarinho notes that I enjoy: beautiful creamy jasmine notes and a little almond nuttiness. I didn't expect those notes to be so present, so I couldn't wait to get the wine on my palate. The creamy texture of the alvarinho combined with that vinho verde bubbliness is exquisite. It is both very refreshing and very satisfying at the same time. I love my rosé, don't get me wrong. But for this moment, watching the clouds get colored by the sunset, feeling a spring breeze and sipping this wine, I realized that this vinho verde was exactly what I wanted right then. At only $11.95, it's possible that my rosé could last a while longer... maybe.

This vinho verde would go really well with shellfish and other seafood dishes and salads. For a more typical style of vinho verde, you could also try the C. Mendes Vinho Verde, which is only $7.95.

Muralhas de Monção Vinho Verde, Portugal | $11.95
C. Mendes Vinho Verde, Portugal | $7.95
Domaine Roger Perrin Rosé, France | $91.95

Chardonnay

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:46:00 +0000

I love growing up. The older I get, the less convinced I am about certain things. I value the freedom to
change my mind. When I think back to how opinionated I was in my early twenties, when I thought I had it all
figured out, I cringe. Now I am humbled and delighted to admit when I am wrong.

But anyway, this isn't about me bragging about how I've grown up into such an open minded young lady. Its
about Chardonnay. You see I thought I hated Chardonnay for years. Like many people, it had some bad
associations for me: too oaky-buttered-popcorn-jelly bean-powdered sugar-synthetic tasting. It was
something suburban moms drink in suburban bars. It was "the white" offered at open bars at tacky weddings. It
just was not cool to order Chardonnay.

But I wasn't just a hater based on these ignorant taboos. I had a bad chardonnay experience of my very
own. For some young drinkers its often Southern Comfort or say, Jim Beam that traumatizes them enough
to avoid up into their adulthood. But unfortunately for me it was Chardonnay. For my 21st birthday, my
sister had bought me a fancy Pottery Barn goblet (yes, "goblet" not wine glass) and a bottle of Fetzer Sun
Dial Chardonnay. Well I solely consumed the bottle in its entirety. I then proceeded to drop my fancy wine
"chalice" on the sidewalk (I was outside of course) and continued my birthday festivities by drunkenly
stepping in the broken glass (I was barefoot of course). After everyone went to bed and my sister's
boyfriend picked all the broken glass out of my bleeding feet, I finished my special night by throwing
up. The next morning I vowed to stay away from Chardonnay.

Ok, so I was young, misinformed and overly judgemental. I didn't know enough about the grape, to form such a
harsh opinion. One bad experience with one bad wine is a stupid reason to hate all Chardonnays. Now almost 10
years later, I seriously love Chardonnay. I'll admit its a new love and its taken me a while to come
around.

I recently tried an unbelievably delicious Jean-Paul Brun, Beaujolais Blanc. This was an unoaked
Chardonnay. Here you can really get a clear example of what this versatile grape is capable of. The silky,
full bodied texture was amazing, and completely balanced by the taste of butterscotch, honey, cream
and an ample amount of minerals. Fueled by my adoration of the Beauj. Blanc, I thought I'd thought
I'd try another unoaked Chardonnnay. This time it was the Paumanok Festival Chardonnay, from North Fork Long
Island. So good! This wine was full of fresh ripe apples and pears, with tremendously bright acidity. By
this point I was ready to get into some oak. I went for the Domaine Fichet, Macon Ige. This one sort of
blew my mind. The subtle oak was not like the American Butter Bomb Chardonnays that I threw back at holiday
office parties. This was a completely different wine. There were beautiful notes of toasted hazelnuts,
citrus and a round richness, that encouraged me to finish the entire bottle in one sitting.

My conversion to a Chardonnay drinker has provoked me to try a lot of things I once hated. It turns out I
still don't like pickles and I certainly didn't love every single Chardonnay I tried. I still have my
opinions and personal taste. But my taste has broadened and it keeps broadening, which makes
drinking wine fresh and interesting. So if you think you made up your mind about hating a particular wine,
I encourage you to try it again. Try three different bottles and compare them with friends. Maybe you'll
change your mind. Maybe you'll still hate it...but at least you can feel good about calling yourself
well-informed and open-minded wine drinker.

Time to weigh in

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:46:00 +0000

I went over to the New Yorker site to find an article on misogyny which as it turned out was actually a New York Times article but none the less still about misogyny. Which, if you have been following Grocery Guy you would know is a pretty heated topic for a few people in this wine industry right now. Instead I stumbled across this amazing article.

There are a number of moments in the article that made me laugh, including the fact that the Swedes "get smacked from behind" when they are hungover. But mostly the article made me realize there are far more important things to talk about when it comes to wine than whether one particular wine importer is perhaps less than delicate in his dealings with other humans (not sure what his feelings about cats are), or whether he is a bigger and better importer than anyone else. I have to say that when it comes right down to it I am glad that the post went up at Grocery Guy, and I am thrilled for the new found attention this has generated for their blog. I think the conversation being raised is of utmost importance, and in that vein if you want to continue it you should really read this article and think about how it relates to the world at large.

Or like me you can return to the really important matters at hand; whether sake leaves you less hungover than wine. I promise I will research this with devotion and dedication until the sake tasting where I will reveal the product of all of my hard drinking labor.

Scandal!

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:03:00 +0000

When scandal hits the world of politics, resignations are called for, private details are released on the evening news and tension is built up until the money shot: the politician holding a press conference and eating humble pie. But when scandal hits the wine world, things take shape a bit differently, as we're seeing again right now. Back in March, Italian investigators implicated certain wine makers of not making their brunello di Montalcino wines from 100% sangiovese grapes. Not quite a hooker-grade fiasco, it's true. This is what the wine world gets for scandal, and it's a big enough deal that the U.S. government is taking action. Brunello di Montalcino wines are some of the highest priced wines on the market — many carry price tags in the hundreds of dollars — with a large chunk of sales coming from restaurants. Much of that high price is based on reputation, which in the case of brunello and most European wines, is built upon the strict wine laws that govern wine making. Under such laws, certain grapes and wine making methods must be used in order to receive higher and higher classifications and therefore command higher prices.

Now when word started to spread about this scandal, some of us wine professionals showed mock indignation and plenty of eye-rolling: "You say Italians have been bending the rules? You say some wine laws haven't been followed to the letter? Nooooooooo." It's true that at first this 'scandal' doesn't seem very important, but it does give us an interesting view of the changing status of the wine industry right now.

By trying to make brunello wines more approachable — and when "more approachable" means adding bigger, bolder varietals like cabernet, merlot and syrah — we get a good example of the pressures put upon old-world wine makers. With an influx of new wine drinkers used to new-world wines, even those wine makers that have been making good wine for decades see that there is a chunk of the market from which they are missing out. This is exactly why many old-world wine makers have begun to put a wine's grape varietals on the label. So interestingly enough, one of the prominent new-world countries, the U.S. of A., is in their own way enforcing the standards of the old-world by not restricting the brunello allowed in to the country.

The wine industry is definitely in a time of change and although all of these laws will probably stay as they are for now, this is how the wine industry inches along. Some wine makers stubbornly and proudly sticking to traditional methods and others boldly and stupidly trying new things very quickly. There will always be some reason for scandal especially in times of change, though I doubt, unfortunately, that we'll ever see Robert Parker wearing a red, white and blue tie looking ashamed and penitent because of the poor judgment he's exhibited at his job.

Sick

noreply@blogger.com (t-roy) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:52:00 +0000

I've recently been suffering from wine drinker's ennui, that strange affliction that makes most wines — even your favorites — seem uninteresting & ordinary. I started a palate rehabilitation program and as I had been drinking a lot of American wines, I followed these steps.

Step one: Cut down on American & new world wines & increase intake of old world, primarily French wines.

I jumped right into this step & went for the French, hoping to get rid of this affliction quickly. I cracked open the Montvac Cotes du Rhone that's been in my wine rack for a couple months. I have enjoyed this wine before & I know I like it's style & range of flavors. My palate perked up a bit during the first glass. What I had been missing most was right up front — that great old-world earthiness, a really evident terroir. And with it's supple texture & berry notes, I felt confident that the Montvac had cured me. But by the second glass, the ennui returned. Every sip seemed to lay on my tongue like Gogurt, and everything seemed disjointed. I was truly sick & needed to up my presciption.

Step two: Drink wines from less common regions or from less common grapes, or both.

I bought a bottle of the Hai Cabernet from Israel & the Erste & Neue Schiava from Alto Adige, Italy for a party I was supposed to go to (I didn't even want to *give* ordinary wine anymore). When I ended up not going to the party, I quickly opened the Schiava, knowing, again, that this is a wine I have enjoyed & it's from a region I love. It's an interesting wine as soon as you pour it, as the color is unlike most wines. It's definitely darker than most rosés, but lighter than most reds. It is beautifully floral on the nose & that's about the last time I saw this wine. It is dangerously easy to drink & I could barely keep my glass full. It's a very fruity wine & the fruit is balanced out with an interesting slight nuttiness that I noticed as the wine raced down my gullet. I was definitely on the road to recovery, but just to make sure, I went on to step three.

Step Three: Drink a higher quality wine from a reputable region.

I had a bottle of 2004 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer that I'd been holding for a few years. This is a $25-35 bottle from Alsace that I've had a few times before. I was making Indian food which is usually an ideal pairing with Gewurztraminer, so I was going all or nothing. I poured the beautiful blonde yellow wine into the glass and caught a whiff of those enchanting Alsatian scents — nutmeg, jasmine, honeysuckle. I took my first sip & I could feel the ennui slipping away for good. This wine was intricate & nuanced and demanded my attention. There was so much good in this wine, a 750ml bottle seemed like a bad tease, but it was a big enough dosage to solve my problem.

Now that I'm cured, I'm following a regimen of somewhat eccentric wines & soon I will be able to drink a wine from anywhere and enjoy it again. If you too are sick with winedrinker's ennui, the doctor's office hours are every Wednesday from 5:30-8:30pm.

Not Showing Well

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:56:00 +0000

You know how sometimes you get all dressed up and go out and end up feeling like nothing is really working for you? Even if you wear that outfit that usually is a hit and makes you feel like a million bucks? Maybe it is the weather or the moon or a lunar eclipse or maybe it is just a part of life that we all have to deal with, you can't always be on your game and looking like a million bucks.

Now imagine you were a wine and you had only one chance to be opened and consumed and essentially judged. Sometimes wine just doesn't show well and it is no ones fault but it sure does suck to be that wine, or to be drinking that wine.

I gave a friend a bottle of wine and she said that she found it to be a little lacking; not bad necessarily and not undrinkable just not all that. This is one of the instances that being in the wine world kind of sucks. I wanted her to like that wine because I like it. You want people to like what you like because that somehow translates into you being an interesting person with good taste, or something of the sort.

I try to remind myself that wine is a natural product made from grapes, that grow in the ground and are handled by human beings. In my humble opinion this is what makes some wines so amazing; that they are a natural product made by people. But sometimes all of the components just don't come together and the wine is not what it wants to be. So next time you have a bottle of wine that someone raves about and that when you try you are less than thrilled about, give the wine a chance to be less than on it's game. Remember that the wine has probably traveled great distances and sat around in a myriad of different warehouses and trucks before arriving in your hot sweaty hands. Give the wine some slack. As for my friend I did what any good wine lover would do and gave her another different bottle of wine to drink because you do, in the end, always want your friends to drink delicious wine.

Love us up!

noreply@blogger.com (A-Train) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:32:00 +0000

Valentine's Day is not really our thing around Vine. Sure, sure, love, romance, sweetness, smooching, we like all that. But not because Hallmark said so.

We also like leaping at any opportunity to drink a special bottle of wine. So this year, make Valentine's Day work for you, and bring home a fun frolic of a wine. Something like FRV sparkling beaujolais.

Number one: The label looks like a French drag-queen designed it. Black with sparkly silver lettering? Yes.

Number two: The wine is deeply rosey with a lovely pink foam when you pour it. Like the grown-up version of those jello-1-2-3 desserts that were so popular when I was in middle school.

Number three: FRV starts out dry with a lush, fruity finish that is not at all trashy.

Let me put it this way: if drinking white zinfandel and WisPride cheese spread on triscuits is like reading Star; the FRV and some triple cream cheese, like an Explorateur or St. Andre, is like reading New York Magazine. YES!

So not our fault

noreply@blogger.com (A-Train) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Not so long ago a woman came into the store while I was working and selected a bottle of wine from the shelf. "How much is this?" she asked, looking at the price tag.

"It's $12.95 plus tax," I said. "Is there anything else I can suggest or help you find?"

"This used to be less," she said. I inwardly rolled my eyes but continued smiling helpfully. "That Talitha--trying get a few more dollars."

I almost lost it. I have worked food and wine retail in New York for more than four years now, and this was perhaps the most infuriating comment I have ever been subjected to. "Ma'am, that wine has been the same price since the first day we opened," I said, gritting my teeth. "And if you know of any non-profit wine stores in the area, I'd love to go and check one out." I smiled warmly. "We have some great $10 and unders you might like."

She paid for her wine and left.

Why the story? Well, wine prices are about to go up folks, so please don't be this woman. Some things are our fault. All of us live in New York, which is expensive. Talitha needs to feed and clothe her child and occasionally put a couple dollars into the college fund. And we all drink more wine than is strictly necessary. But at the end of the day this is a business, the point of which is to make money. We all insist on staying paid. Guilty as charged.

The weak dollar though? We didn't make that happen. Winemakers in California, Chile and Argentina raising prices to match European wine prices? That's not our fault either. No, when you come in and see that your favorite French or Spanish wine is $3 higher than it used to be, don't curse us under your breath, and certainly not to our faces. Because we're going to stay in the crazy "for profit" game.

And basically, it's Bush's fault.

The weak dollar is making European wine much, much more expensive. We're as sad about it as you. It's making it harder for us to bring you fantastic, well-priced wines and more expensive to drink our way through this recession. If you think about it, the weak dollar seems like a vast Republican conspiracy: It makes wine, travel to Europe and in general all foreign things more expensive. It makes us distrustful and insular, looking for a power higher than even Ben Bernacke to deliver us from economic evil. It turns us into small-minded folk. Don't let it turn you against us! Fight the power.

So when you see your favorite Burgundian Pinot Noir is $5 more than last year don't blame us, blame Bush.

Heath Ledger has nothing to do with wine.

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:28:00 +0000

I feel compelled to write something about Heath Ledger's untimely and ultimately very sad death. We utilize celebrity on our chalkboards, every day at both Vine Wine and Champion Coffee. Sometimes to ridicule and sometimes to celebrate the obnoxious and seemingly silly behavior and spectacle taking place in this, at times, mundane world that we live in. It started out when I first opened TEN63 as a way to fill a chalkboard with more than just blather about the product inside, and as a way to stop thinking about the Iraq war, which had just begun, for one minute. It grew, those silly little chalkboards, into a part of the day that random people as well as devoted customers looked forward to.

This all has nothing and everything to do with Heath Ledger. For whatever reason when he died my first thought was; this is not chalkboard material. I think unlike Britney Spears and Scarlett Johansson, I laid some weird (and perhaps irrational) personal claim to Heath Ledger. He was the guy who moved to Brooklyn and lived there as one of us, he was the guy so openly in love with Michelle Williams at the Oscars in 2005. He was the guy who you would play some skeeball with at a bar and never realize who he 'was'.

This past fall Michelle Williams showed up on a school tour that I was on. I remember wondering why she would have to take a tour? After all can't the celebrities just back door the entire process? I like to think that maybe she and Heath didn't see themselves as celebrities and rather as people employed in the field of acting. And I like to think that what happened to Heath Ledger was above all a tragic accident and nothing more depressing.

Coturri 4-Evah

noreply@blogger.com (A-Train) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:36:00 +0000

I used to champion West Coast wines, calling the Frenchies stuffy, snooty and bo-ring. Now it's all France, all the time. Even though I've come to recognize, reluctantly, that it's just easier to find well made French wines that are interesting and well priced, I still love California and Oregon. But not enough to spend $30 on a cherry-berry-burst Zinfandel or a toothpaste-y Pinot Noir. For Christmas I drank a white Burgundy from St. Aubin, a Brouilly and a ridiculously good 100% gamay from Anjou that was bright, fruity, earthy and hella gamey, dude. Also, organic and biodynamic, and made by Olivier Cousin, a maniacal winemaker who handcrafts amazing stuff.

Tony (above) and Phil Coturri are America's version of Olivier Cousin. For one, they're total hippies - Eric Asimov once quoted someone who described Phil as "second runner up in a Jerry Garcia lookalike contest." Coturri Winery is the kind of place that perfectly blends the free spirit of the West Coast with traditional European winemaking practices. The Coturris have been making wine in California for three generations now, since the pater familias Enrico arrived in San Francisco at the turn of the (20th) century with $10 in his pocket. Go to their website and read the whole history -- I want to talk about the wine.

I drank a bottle of their 2005 Albarello last night and mmmmm child, what an amazing wine. Mostly Zinfandel and Petite Syrah with some other blending grapes thrown in, this wine is the result of a mixed grape vineyard in Sonoma that was planted to produce a full-bodied table wine. The Coturris don't irrigate, they hand prune and they use only naturally occurring yeasts, so the wine really expresses the character of where it was grown. And what did Sonoma taste like in 2005? Fresh raspberry juice, bright tannins and loamy earth. Let it breathe, maybe even decant it (there's LOADS of sediment) and you have a warm California hillside in a glass.

Winning Ticket

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:11:00 +0000

Is it yours?

The winning number from the Champagne Tasting on Saturday is;
9322002

Stop by to claim your bottle of Vilmart & Cie Champagne!

Holiday Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:39:00 +0000

Our Holiday hours at last;

Thanksgiving Day 10am - 4pm
Christmas Eve 12pm - 8pm
Christmas Day closed
New Years Eve 12pm - 9pm
New Years Day closed

Just a subtle reminder that we are here for all of your holiday wine needs.

How fickle am I? How fickle are you?

noreply@blogger.com (Vine Wine) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:17:00 +0000

If I tell you this you have to swear never to tell another person I am so fickle in some of my likes and dislikes that at times that even I can't keep up. One moment I love American Chardonnay again and the next I can't quite believe that I could ever drink anything that overly oaked. Sometimes my fickleness comes from an overload of one thing; too much steel fermentation and the tongue needs some oak. Sometimes though I am just plain indecisive and fickle; I can no longer love Lyle Fass because his new photo is not nearly brooding and dark enough for me, This is not the same thing as being fickle about my over-arching loves. There are some wines that every time I drink them they are even better than I remembered; the Alloro Pinot Noir, Larmandier Bernier Blanc de Blancs and the Angus Cabernet. Then there are some wines that I fall out of love and back in love with on a regular basis; Cabernet Franc from all over, Loire Chenin Blanc's and even Rioja. But mostly I think my being fickle comes from context and the more I think and learn about wine the more I am convinced it is all context.

Imagine if you could take mood, temperature, sickness and health, garlic and all other strongly flavored foods, wealth and relative poverty out of the equation. If you could taste wine in a perfect vacuum where you didn't just get yelled at by a crazy man on the subway and our president didn't just make an ass of himself. What would the wine actually taste like? Is it even possible to taste wine like this and would wine even matter if you truly lived in a bubble? Which is why context becomes so important because what I am looking for a wine to do for me is constantly changing based upon where I am in my life. So there, I think that my fickleness comes from an entirely valid and realistic place. Now can anyone get Lyle to change his picture?